A representational state transfer (REST) application programming interface (API) is a software architecture style associated with a client-server model. A uniform interface separates clients and servers. A REST API is stateless. Each request from a client includes the information necessary for the server to service the request. In other words, the necessary state to handle the request is included within the request itself, whether as part of the URI, headers, query-string parameters, or body.
The uniform resource identifier (URI) uniquely identifies the resource and the body contains the state (or state change) of that resource. After the server processes the request, the piece(s) of state data that matter are communicated back to the client via headers, status, and/or the body of a response returned to the client.
A client may send a job request, in accordance with a REST API, for a basic operation or task to be performed by a server. A given request may specify a single operation or task. In response to receiving the request, the server may perform processing to service the request.